Journal to print online only

Months after announcing a first of its kind move when a blogger bought a newspaper, a new announcement from the paper is just the latest in a new trend as The Albany Journal announced this morning that it was suspending print operations.

“This wasn’t a case of something we wanted to do,” said Journal publisher Tom Knighton. “It’s been a rough time for the newspaper industry, and our advertising revenue took a big hit after I took over the paper. We kept going for as long as we could, but we finally reached a point where we had two choices: We could go to online only, or we could shut the doors forever.”

The Journal’s announcement is simply the latest in a trend of newspapers having to cut back or completely suspend print operations. Knighton says he now understands more of why this is happening. “More and more people are getting their news online, and more and more advertisers are looking away from print,” Knighton said.

Knighton reports that the Journal will continue online. “We didn’t want this, but we’re seizing the moment,” Knighton said. “This is an opportunity to bring news to our readers seven days a week, not just one.”

So what does Knighton say to those who may think the move was in the works the whole time? “Just because I was a blogger doesn’t mean I wanted this. If I had, we would have done this a long time ago. We would have saved a lot of money if we had,” Knighton said.

Knighton assures subscribers that they won’t be left out in the cold. He says they will be sending word to each about how they plan on repayment of subscription fees.

After my wife and I discussed Tom's last option "Knighton assures subscribers that they won’t be left out in the cold. He says they will be sending word to each about how they plan on repayment of subscription fees." We felt it was necessary to suspend Tom from 'owning" us anything. Time are tight for all people and since Tom has been reporting the best news events and their editorial is superb I told Tom privately we that we forgave his debt to us over the subscription as long as he (Tom) would keep us informed everyday on news events. I hope many other would take my wife and my idea to help with Tom as he start of a great news reporting in Albany area. Imagine getting the new almost as it just happen online.
Good Luck to Tom and his Staff with this idea for news reporting in Albany.

I am extremely concerned that the Journal has stopped publishing investigative pieces in favor of opinion pieces and/or news items that are readily and widely available. The Journal has been critically important for exactly the reasons you identified: "it gave us info that the rest of the local media refused to cover or investigate." But over the past several months I have noticed NO investigative pieces about the City Government, despite the fact the police chief has been under heavy attack by some on the Commission; despite the fact at least TWO senior police officers are currently or have been under investigation for sexual harrassment; despite the fact one of them is under investigation (again) for double dipping; despite the fact a white officer was given an acting promotion he didn't even want in an apparent attempt to undermine a racial discrimination lawsuit (previously reported in the Journal) filed by another white officer; despite the fact the City is paying Oxford Construction one million dollars to raze the Heritage House although there is no legal reason to do so; despite the fact the former human resources director filed a lawsuit alleging discrimination; despite the fact City Manager James Taylor apparently issued an edict that anyone caught discussing City business with outsiders may be subject to immediate termination, etc. etc. etc.
And while the Herald recently published a mildly critical piece about deadbeat commissioner Christopher Pike not paying the Hilton an 11k bill after his "Black Expo," the Journal failed to go to the Courthouse and check records regarding Pike. Had it done so, it would have learned that Pike HAS BEEN SUED INNUMERABLE TIMES over the past SEVERAL years fior nonpayment of moneys owed, and this is open source information.
The Journal's lamentable decision to stop publishing investigative pieces means there is NO source of information about what is going on with public funds in this City that is not the officially blessed version that other media outlets are fed and dutifully report.

Kathleen, we report that which we are made aware of. I'm sorry if you're not pleased with what we have published over the last couple of months. However, we have been working on several stories at the moment that are investigative. They will be coming out as we are able to have them completed.

As for what we have and haven't done, don't be so quick to judge. We have made no such decision to not publish investigative pieces. We simply haven't had the resources to work a lot of the angles we have wanted to work.

About the author

Tom Knighton is the publisher of The Albany Journal. In November, 2011, he became the first blogger to take over a newspaper anywhere in the world. In August of 2012, he made the difficult decision to take the Journal out of print circulation and become an online news agency, a first for the Albany area.